10 Directors Who Broke Their Stars To Make Famous Movies

8. Stephen Norrington Convinced Sean Connery To Quit Acting

By all accounts, Stephen Norrington's The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was as much of a mess on-set as it is on the screen, and no one has been more vocal about the film's issues than Sean Connery. Connery's blunt early assessment of the director? "On the first day I realised he was insane." Connery and Norrington clashed frequently, with the director's slow pace and peculiar decision-making - it's alleged Norrington shut down production for a whole day just because a prop didn't look right to him - only increasing Connery's cynicism. When the shoot was finally over and the film was preparing for release, Connery was asked why Norrington hadn't made the opening party - he responded with, "Check the local asylum." His feeling of being out of touch with contemporary filmmaking only compounded by the Extraordinary Gentlemen experience, Connery quit acting after wrapping the film, and he hasn't been seen on screen since. They wrote a part specifically for him in Skyfall so he could cameo, but he ultimately didn't feature - seems odd that that 'Scottish' groundskeeper at James Bond's home is played by Albert Finney in the 50th anniversary movie, doesn't it?